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Yum Yum Soup

It feels like Roo and I have been traveling practically every weekend this past month.

We went to a wedding in Maine, Roo tagged along with me to Virginia for work, and now I’m due to go back to my parents’ house to deal with the car that I “dropped off.”

Parents are smart.

They know when you’re trying to dump stuff at their place for “storage.”

They especially don’t like it when their retirement nirvana is no longer, due to a rusted, three-wheeled, no longer smells of Teen Spirit Outback station wagon that has been parked outside their house for months.

When I dropped it off I told them it’d be taken away by <insert charity I’m donating it to> in a week.

Whoops.

Yes, I’m far from perfect.

Dare I say they raised me, so they should have known it was bad news when the tow truck dropped off the car while they were away on vacation?

What, I forgot to mention that?

Procrastination. Yes, my parents may have dropped the ball about setting me right with that one.

Being obsessed with spices? My mother can take the credit for instilling that in me.

Growing up, it was like being audience to an at-home cooking show (but faster, almost manic, fueled by “wine spritzers” and laughs…I should call her…).

My mother’s constant chatter while cooking (she called it “creating”) was informative as any Food Network Star’s dream pilot. She’d tell me what she loved about that dish, why, how the ingredients all worked together, and demanded that I taste.

Everything.

And when I was flipping through one of my newly acquired cookbooks (for fun, I have a problem) today, I spotted a flavor combination that I knew I’d like, and probably love, with a couple adjustments.

Cumin, garam masala, curry powder.

In a soup? With peanut butter?

Uh, and coconut milk?

No really, it works.

It has heat, it’s full of body from the coconut milk, and the peanut butter adds a little “something,” that makes the soup quite complex for one that’s whipped up within an hour.

As for what the heck to call it, yes, I really was waving my hands up in the air, not wanting to list every ingredient in the soup to make sense as to what it is.

1 cup potato, diced or sliced thinly (size depending on what you like in your soup, and how quickly you’d like it to cook)

Half cup of red lentils, drained and rinsed

1 fourteen ounce can Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed

Salt to taste

–

Equipment

A sharp knife

A large pot with a lid

A colander

A spatula

–

Place the large pot with olive oil on an oven burner over medium high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the diced onion. Stir occasionally with a spatula till the onions are translucent. Add the garlic. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Push aside the onions and garlic, to make a bare spot for your spices to be added. Add the spices (curry powder, garam masala, cumin and ginger). Let sit until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Stir the spices into the onions and garlic.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Stir to combine.

Bring the soup to a simmer.

Simmer on low heat for thirty minutes slightly covered, or until potatoes are tender (if they were cut small, they should cook quickly) and the lentils are soft.